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Saturday, May 13, 2017

A few days ago I started something that I haven't done in a long time: I updated my website. It doesn't seem like that big of deal, but it's something that's pretty important for illustrators.

My website on a PC

Updating my website was more work than I thought. I have a wordpress website and it's a lot of work to make a wordpress blog look like a portfolio website. The moral to this part of the story is that wordpress is evil for website building. Especially when I know what I want!

I wanted a bit of my artwork at the top. This image will likely change soon, but I wanted something at the top to fill that space until I design something different.

It's really important to have easy navigation on a website from one part of a website to another. It may seem silly to have a "home" button on my landing page, but it's important to have the same navigation on every page. This makes for easier navigation and less distraction when exploring a website.

Website navigation

It seems to be standard practice to have a white background on portfolio websites. (Mine was brown before and I hated it.) White is used so the images become the focus of the webpage. Using other colors in the background can distract from the art. Black can be used as well, however white allows the eyes to have a bit more rest.

One of the hardest things about creating the portfolio is pruning the images. I had more than 18 images in two portfolios before I started. This isn't hideously awful, but I wanted to get rid of most of my older work. I'm now down to 10 images in my portfolio. It's small, but I feel confident with each image in the portfolio. Something I didn't feel before the pruning. Honestly, I hate having so few images in my portfolio, but I think it gives a better feel overall.

My website on a Smart Phone

When designing any website it's important for a webpage to look good on all devices. If I were to create a webpage from scratch, then I'd have to design code that will make my webpage look good no matter where it's viewed. When using a template (like I did) one still has to design the website to look good on different devices.

Don't depend on a website builder tool to give accurate information on how a website will look on all devices. I know for a fact that mine looks different on my cell phone than GoDaddy (my website builder) says it will look. Make sure the webpage can be viewed properly on a PCs, Tablet and Smart Phones. Check out the website on as many different devices and web browsers as possible (borrow from a friend!). Sometimes a device or web browser won't be compatible with the template that was used. It's impossible to know which device an editor, agent or art director will view my work, so I try to make my website as accessible as possible!

My website on a Tablet.

The reason my name is so small on a PC is because it has to be that small so my full name can be seen on a Smart Phone. I'm sure there is a way to edit each page separately, but I don't think I want to be that picky (plus I hate messing with code. It's boring).

My website is far from perfect, but I feel like I finally have something that looks professional. I welcome any questions or comments on my website. Please let me know if anything looks horribly wrong!

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